FotoMonkey – Page 3 – Fotomonkey Photography

Jan 20

by FotoMonkey in photowalk 0 comments tags: sooc, xt30ii

Darien, Georgia

Today it felt right to take another road trip. I’d actually planned it for last weekend but wasn’t feeling it enough. It was our coldest day of the season and in the low 40s when I got in the car, but despite the temperature I decided to make a day of it and headed to the small coastal town of Darien, GA. Darien is another town I’ve driven by countless times while traveling on I-95 but I’ve never had a need or interest in stopping. However, this changed when I made my Brunswick trip and the lady at the visitor’s center suggested it. As I pulled off of the highway and into the parking lot of the Darien visitor’s center, I picked up a map and walking tour of the area. I’m a little disappointed in the map. It really should include addresses. I tried location a couple of items based on the dot that was placed on the map and fell flat. It would be nice if you didn’t have to drive through random neighborhoods looking like a lost tourist. I used two recipes for this trip. The first is probably going to end up as one of my […]

Dec 31

by FotoMonkey in general 0 comments

123123

Today seems as though it should be special. Though, it doesn’t really “feel” special. It’s been kind of an ordinary day if I’m to be honest. But let’s set that aside for a moment. The date is 12/31/23…123123. The last time this happened was 1923. The next will be 2123. Every 100 years. So not likely something I’ll see again in my lifetime. What does it mean. Well, I have no idea other than it’s cool. I’m not a numerologist. Perhaps it’s the year that monkeys will fly out of my butt. Only time will tell. Since I didn’t really have full year’s worth of images to sort through (at least not where I was really focused on my craft), it was a bit of a struggle to identify the top 5 that spoke to me the most. I don’t necessarily know that I can quantify my choices. They are what they are. Hopefully they’ll say something to you as well. I’m not posting an any particular order. I’ll let you decide. I decided to check out the old Farmer’s Almanac to see what it had to say about this unique and rare date.

Nov 24

by FotoMonkey in photowalk 0 comments tags: b&w, beach, pier, surfing

Surf’s Up

Black Friday. What do you do when you don’t care about binge shopping? Well, it seems that a number of people headed to the beach. It turns out that the washing machine from earlier in the week had turned into a nice, clean swell. I didn’t spend more than maybe 30 minutes out today, but it felt like a good session. Taking pictures, not surfing. 🙂 I’ve really been on the black & white bent lately. I’m shooting the same film in the Yashica 35GX as the film simulation I’m shooting in the Fujifilm…Ilford HP5 Plus 400. I can’t wait to develop the film and see how the two compare in real life. Anyway, here’re the results of the days’ shooting. I kinda dig these quick trips. Not a lot of work afterwards.

Nov 21

by FotoMonkey in photowalk 0 comments tags: b&w, xt30ii

Ahead of the Holiday

I’m sort of off this week. I say sort of because I’ve worked so far and will be working Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday despite technically being on vacation. In an effort to keep my mind focused where it needs to be (relaxing) I headed downtown today for some street photography. My goal was framing…using the surroundings to naturally frame the subject. I’ll admit that I struggled. I took my 25/f2 and most of my shooting was across the street which was too far away. I think my success rate would’ve been higher with the zoom. Oh well, that’s why I do these exercises. This is the best shot out of the target series. We have a park downtown which I’ve visited several times for one particular shot. Unfortunately, it’s never materialized until today. I don’t know if it’s quite what I had in my head but I’m happy with how it came out. As I was walking back to my car I had one final opportunity. This woman was probably on her way back to the office after her lunch break. I tried to be inconspicuous. I don’t think it worked. 🙂

Nov 18

by FotoMonkey in photowalk 0 comments tags: florida

Starke, Florida

Starke is yet another small town in Florida that I’ve driven through for years but never stopped. It was never a destination, just a spot along the way. It was the mid-point between two even smaller towns which once reigned supreme as Florida’s most well known speed traps, Lawtey and Waldo. I’ve made many trips down US301 to Gainesville, which is probably most peoples’ destination if they’re traveling this way. However, unless you’re planning on stopping, most driver’s likely take new wonderful new bypass and miss the town altogether. On this Saturday afternoon, I decided to drive down and see what I’ve been missing all these years. As it turns out, not much. There isn’t much to see in this town of around 5000. It does stake claim to being home to Florida’s oldest weekly newspaper, The Bradford County Telegraph, which began publication in 1879. It is also the county seat for Bradford County. Aside from that, I found one street which really held any promise. It seems like most of the activity revolves around Call Street. Now it does make sense. After all, Call Street is actually a National historic district. Although the street is relatively short, there is […]

Nov 04

by FotoMonkey in photowalk 0 comments tags: florida, mural, palatka, xt30ii

Palatka, Florida

In my continuing quest to seek out new places that I haven’t explored around my home turf, I traveled to Palatka, Florida yesterday. It’s actually got a pretty interesting history so I’d encourage you to read the link. I’ve been through Palatka countless times but I’ve never really stopped to see what the town has to offer. With a population around the 10,000 mark, it’s considerable larger than where I grew up but it still has a familiar feel. I parked at one end of the historic downtown area and walked about 20 blocks. I was surprised that despite it being a weekend with the holidays right around the corner, very little was open. There are plenty of shops which should’ve been busy but most of downtown was closed up. My main target was a large number of murals representing the community’s history. They were very well done. Something that impressed me is the kindness of the people I crossed paths with. Many times I found myself shooting across the street to get the entire mural in the frame. On more than one occasion, driver’s would stop and wait for me to finish rather than driving through my shot. At […]

Oct 29

by FotoMonkey in gear 0 comments tags: fuji, telephoto, x-h1

A Day at the Zoo

Ok, so today is the last day with the 150-600. I figured I’d slow things down a little and go from high-speed jets to mostly stationary animals and headed out to the zoo. Historically, we’ve had a very good zoo with some outstanding exhibits. This trip left a little to be desired with numerous animals off exhibit. I ended up spending four hours, though. Of course, part of that was returning to some of the animals more than once to see if they’d become more lively. Let me say that carrying this lens around for so long will do a number on your back. I’ve always had an interest in birds. Whether we’re talking about a large bird like this green-winged macaw or something smaller like an African grey or even a conure, I think they’re intelligent and interesting creatures. I don’t think I’m at the point in life that I’d commit to a 70-year pet so I’ll remain content to just taking their pictures. As I continued my journey through the Emerald Forest Aviary I couldn’t help but stop and snap a picture of this spoonbill. There were quite a few of them chilling out near the water but […]

Sep 15

by FotoMonkey in travel 0 comments

Mercutio – The End

We woke up early. Most of us had a relatively early flight to catch. We headed to breakfast and fueled up before heading to the airport. Joey and Gary had the afternoon flight so the three of us loaded up in the hotel shuttle for the 3-minute ride to the airport. Normally I guess it’s 5 minutes but we must’ve missed rush hour. 🙂 We had to wait for security to open so the seating area in the lobby filled up. Eventually the security area was opened and everyone just shuffled from one area to the next. I think this is probably the smallest airport I’ve ever flow through that wasn’t a commuter airport. We had an uneventful flight into Minneapolis except for a little turbulence as we neared the airport. All of us were heading to different gates and didn’t have long to catch our connecting flights. Jerry, Edward and I said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I was very glad to have a direct flight home. The week was pretty epic. As with all good things, they must come to an end. I’m very glad I was able to reconnect with the guys and had the […]

Sep 14

by FotoMonkey in travel 0 comments

Mercutio – Flying Out

We awoke this morning at 7:30. There was still some packing of odds and ends to do. We needed to clean the cabin to get it ready to close up for the season. The freezers and refrigerators needed to be emptied. A lot of final preps before the float planes arrived at 9:30. We all pretty much skipped breakfast in favor of knocking out the last bits of work. Thanks to Gary the coffee kept us going. Everything came together nicely, though, and our gear was on the dock and ready to go when the planes arrived right on time. Edward, Jerry and I took the first plane back. It was another beautiful day for flying. Jim picked us up and did a great job. It’s easy to see why they call Minnesota the land of 10,000 lakes. So, I won’t go into details, but I’ll post it for the guys. Now here’s where things skipped a beat. Somehow, our ride had us down for returning the next day. Rather than being there at 10am to take us back to the US, they were nowhere to be found. Keep in mind that we’re two hours from where we need to […]

Sep 13

by FotoMonkey in travel 0 comments

Mercutio – Day 6

The cabin was cold again this morning. I was sure I had the stove going fine when we turned it, but the wood barely looked charred. I woke up in the middle of the night to put my longjohns back on. Looking out the windows was interesting. The lake was gone. We were completely socked in by fog. It made for a pretty cool morning, though. It took several hours to burn off. The water (what we could see) was like glass. I love black and white photography and felt that the fog really lent itself to it. I loaded up my B&W film recipe and went to town. I think you open up a new world when you take the color away. The fog did eventually burn off and it turned out to be a gorgeous day. It was our last day at the lake before flying back to civilization and we were all itching to get on the water. The chill burned off as well and we didn’t have to bundle up too much. The lake was looking particularly lovely on this day and the colors were alive. We pretty much stayed together on this last day. Unfortunately, […]